Teams working on NASA’s INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission, the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical convective storms, have completed assembly and tested two of the mission’s small satellites, or SmallSats. Testing continues on the third SmallSat and is scheduled for completion no earlier than September in advance of a 2027 launch.
The three satellites will fly in tight coordination in low Earth orbit, with the first and second satellites separated by 30 seconds and the second and third satellite by 90 seconds.
Characterized by the sudden and intense lifting of large amounts of air and water, tropical convective storms provide more than half of the world’s precipitation, a crucial source of life-supporting fresh water. But they also produce severe weather, which can increase risks to life and property. The INCUS mission will help improve understanding of where, when, and why convective storms form.
Led by principal investigator Sue van den Heever of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, INCUS will use spaceborne radar instruments developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to observe the vertical motion of air and water, known as convective mass flux, as storms develop and evolve. The mission will also explore how environmental factors such as air temp …